Can I harvest yeast from any bottle conditioned beer to re-use? Is there a list of common brews people normally harvest yeast from? I know dry beer yeast isnt real expensive, but if I can save myself a dollar and a 30 minute drive to the LHBS then I'm willing to try it. Thanks.

Can I harvest yeast from any bottle conditioned beer to re-use? Is there a list of common brews people normally harvest yeast from? I know dry beer yeast isnt real expensive, but if I can save myself a dollar and a 30 minute drive to the LHBS then I'm willing to try it. Thanks.

Eric

This hasn't been updated in a while, but it might give you a few ideas.

If you're just looking to replace dry yeast as a money-saver, don't bother...you'll spend more $$/time culturing the commercial yeast.

Generally, when people try to culture a commercial yeast it's to get a specific flavor profile from a yeast that isn't available to homebrewers. The two examples that come to mind immediately are Rogue's Pacman yeast, and Unibroue's belgian strain (both of which, BTW, are seasonal/special offerings from Wyeast...there's also some debate as to whether the Unibroue bottle-conditioning yeast is the one they use for primary fermentation).

Make one trip to your LHBS (or order online), and stock up on several varieties of dry yeast (Nottingham, S-05, S-04). Pitch on cakes and/or harvest/wash the yeast to stretch your $$. Buy liquid yeast when there's no acceptable dry option (hefeweizens, most lagers, belgians, etc.). Wash and reuse those. And only culture the commercial stuff if (a) you can't get it any other way, or (b) you just like to tinker with things like that.

You have to do a little research before using yeast from bottle-conditioned brews. Unibroue, for example, uses a different strain for bottling which is basically neutral (why they do this, I don't know), so don't expect a Belgian from it.